Android Karenina

Quirk Books latest mash-up from the esteemed Ben Winters, Android Karenina, is out now! Tolstoy's seminal work has now been infused with cyborgs, grav-trains, trans orbital bullet ships, wormholes, and alien infestations. Fifteen black and white illustrations done by yours truly are tucked inside this doozy of book! Once again thanks go out to Doogie Horner and Jason Rekulak of Quirk Books for giving me the opportunity to provide content for another mash-up. Each illustration proved to be a unique and varied challenge that made the process thoroughly enjoyable! Here are some of my personal favorites:

Monster Stew!

When I was a wee lad, I used to draw monsters. A LOT of monsters. Monsters on napkins. Monsters on ruled paper. Monsters in coloring books. Monsters on the walls. So when I was asked to create a series of illustrations of well known monster arch types, I couldn't resist.

The book is called "Horrorscopes" and it's being published by Chronicle Books. I was asked to create twelve interior illustrations plus a border illustration that would be used throughout the book.

Kudos to Kristen Hewitt, the wonderful art director, for keeping everything cohesive, and reigning me in when I got too gory (which was often...).

Without any further ado, enjoy the monster stew!

Sherlock Holmes!

I've got another book coming out from Quirk Books today; "The Sherlock Holmes Handbook: The Methods and Mysteries of the World's Greatest Detective," by Ransom Riggs. The book is full of interior illustrations and it's a fun read for any fan of Arthur Conan Doyle's most loved character.

Originally I was given the task of creating a look similar to the original Sidney Paget illustrations that appeared with the published stories, but it was too daunting a task to handle. Thankfully they were happy with the look I was able to provide, and I think they conveyed the right atmosphere for this kind of subject matter.

This project required a lot of versatility in that I had to illustrate a variety of scenarios as well as objects and animals. It was a fun challenge and I love the design of the book, done by Doogie Horner over at Quirk; it looks and feels like an old hardcover novel from the 19th century.

Here are some samples:


Sherlock experiencing a bit of malaise.


Sherlock Holmes exhibiting his skills in Bartistu.




A cane is not necessarily a sign of a handicap.


Move over Errol Flynn.


Shedding a clever disguise.


The Hound of The Baskervilles.



The Victorian Opium Den as described in Holmes' world.


The Baker Street Irregulars.


The avid beekeeper.


An accomplished violinist.


The demise of Professor Moriarty.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters!

The good folks at Quirk books are coming up with another monster mash-Up book this September; Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. It was a dream project to work on all the interior illustrations. The beautiful cover art was created by Lars Leetaru.

This was a very rewarding project due to the fact that I was able to illustrate such a wide variety of cool miscellany: sea monsters, underwater sea bases, giant pirates, gynormous lobsters, and intricate underwater diving suits! It was pretty much the reason I became an illustrator!

Thankfully I can show two illustrations from the book, which comes out September 15. Many praises must be given to Doogie Horner and Jason Rekulak for having faith in me to get the work done. They gave me good direction and were enthusiastic about the artwork I showed them throughout the months it took to complete the title. Click on the title link above to reserve your copy at Amazon!

What's the deal?

As some of you know, I haven't been the most ardent keeper of my blog. There's a number of explanations (excuses) I could pilfer from to explain my abscence-the biggest being my involvement in some book illustration projects i've been entreched in for the past year. A couple of them I can share with you, some I can't...

Last year I was approached by Quirk Books with an offer to illustrate a new addition to their Secret Lives series, The Secret Lives of the Supreme Court. It was easily the most extensive project I've ever been involved in; 35 two color illustrations + cover art. With some luck, and some patience from my enduring wife, I was able to meet the deadlines and come out of it all unscathed.

Here's a sample of some of my favorites from the series:


Antony Scalia


Clarence Thomas


Frank Murphy


Harold Blackmun


John Roberts


Louis Brandeis


Sandra Day O'connor


Thurgood Marshall


William Howard Taft


William Rehnquist


William Brennan

The process was pen and ink colored in Photoshop. Looking at the work now I have mixed feelings about it. I'm proud of some of the illustrations, and embarrassed by some of the others. All in all that's not a bad thing...it's good in some ways to feel a little unsatisfied, only because it can push you to get better in the long run.

Many thanks to Doogie Horner at Quirk Books, for guiding me through the whole process and pushing me creatively, as well as campaigning on my behalf for the project. And also many thanks to my wife Mary, who put up with my long nights and my fuzzy sleep deprived brain for so many months.

Next up; a peak at the cool Sherlock Holmes project I had the great fortune of working on!

Sketch

Here's a sketch for a personal illustration project. I'm working on updating my portfolio and decided to take on some projects that would get my butt in gear. The concept for this illustration was kids who suffer from the heavy expectations of the adults in their lives. Next up: finished inks.

There Will Be Blood

A rough sketch for a new illustration. I'll post the various stages of development as I complete them. I've been lying really low for the past couple of months after having completed a large illustration assignment for a book that's coming out in May of this year. I'll post details about that project soon. Now it's time for me to crack the whip and get productive-It's so easy to fall into the trap of doing nothing...

Almost Famous...

Howdy folks! Where the "F" have I been you ask? Well, pretty much in my studio, holed away working on a book illustration project which I can't divulge any details about yet. But I do have a funny tale to tell y'all about. A few days ago I got an email from a fellow out in North Carolina who had a funny story to tell about an old drawing I did some years ago.

Here's the skinny;

Hello Eugene. I work for a major corporation and my job is in R&D printing t-shirts. Every now and then, I get time to do some for myself and my friends. Well, a few weeks ago I decided to google some Tweedy pictures because one of my good friends bachelor party was coming up and we love Wilco. Anyway, I get to like page 30 on google images and there is your artwork. It's perfect for a t-shirt, so I edited it and increased the resolution for printing(about 300 dpi). I put it on a shirt and give it to him and I thought that was the end of it. Well, weekend before last my friends were going to see Wilco in Charleston SC (we live in NC) and I couldn't go but my friend went and wore your shirt. He worked his way to the front(like he always does-that idiot) and believe it or not, he could tell Tweedy kept looking at him. Then after a song, Tweedy stops the show and says "that is the most disgusting shirt I have ever seen. That doesn't even look like me". Kind of joking of course. Then he plays another song and after that one he still can't let it go. So he starts talking about it some more "I look like the Geico caveman, and my nose is bigger than that". After another song, he can't take it anymore so he helps my buddy onstage and asks the crowd what they think, smiling the whole time. He even tells my buddy to hold out the tshirt and then he puts his face beside it and asks the crowd. Anyway, he had a huge smile on his face the whole time. My buddy ends up stopping the show for 5 minutes because of your artwork and he gives Tweedy a hug and shakes Nels Cline's hand as well. It made my buddy's life. Here is an excerpt from a local newspaper about it: During the show, Tweedy noticed a fan in the front row wearing a shirt with an image of the singer he found unflattering. 'I look like the Geico caveman,' exclaimed Tweedy, who proceeded to bring the fan onstage to model the image for the rest of the house.

Charleston News Story

For some context, here's the image

postcard design

Time to get some new promotional materials out there! I decided to create an image solely for the purpose of using it on a postcard. Plus I needed a project to get me back on track with my work. I'm using a large format card for this design so I don't lose too much detail.

Jokester!

Here I go with yet another take on the Joker-figured it's a good start to the new moleskine...

bear's gotta come out of his cave someday...

Once again I've fallen behind on my posts-but this time I have a good reason...

fatherhood!

My wife Mary gave birth to our beautiful daughter Audrey Olivia Smith, last November. I've spent the last 4 months figuring out how to take care of this new, amazing little person-as well as keep up with all the work I seem to want to pile on myself. I'm working hard on some new promotional materials which I'll post soon; in the mean time I've decided to post my submission for the new Beasts! volume from Fantagraphics. The competition is pretty fierce, over 200 artists submitted work, so my chances are slim. Although I don't think it's my best work, doing this project got me in gear and I'm ready to jump back into the fray of creating art again.



And here's my piece for Beasts!-



The Red Cap, here's the wikipedia entry for this little beasty:
A Red Cap or Redcap, also known as a powrie or dunter, is a type of malevolent murderous goblin, elf or fairy found in British folklore. They inhabit ruined castles found along the border between England and Scotland. Redcaps are said to murder travelers who stray into their homes and dye their hats with their victims' blood (from which they get their name).^[1] Indeed, redcaps must kill regularly, for if the blood staining their hats dries out, they die. Redcaps are very fast in spite of the heavy iron pikes they wield and the iron-shod boots they wear. Outrunning the buck-toothed little demons is quite impossible; the only way to escape one is to quote a passage from the Bible. They lose a tooth on hearing it, which they leave behind.